Saturday, May 24, 2008

Worse than irony

It was recently reported that the SC Dept of Prisons is now spending $1.43 per prisoner per day for food. That would be an increase of 15 cents over what they were spending last year. My usual meal at McDonald's is a Snack Wrap ($1.29) and a medium Diet Coke ($1.39). The amount I spend on one small and relatively cheap lunch would nearly feed two adult inmates in SC for a whole day. When I was a child, I was often warned that the food in jail would be bread and water. I believed it then, but I'm horrified to learn how close to the truth that warning turns out to be, especially in a state where ostentatious religion is a "value". SC is, after all, in the Bible Belt. Did Jesus not say that whatever was done to the least of our brethren, He would consider as having been done to Him? Did he not specifically mention concern for prisoners?

So it seems particularly ironic to me that the same legislature that has budgeted so little for inmate food, let alone the whole prison system, including rehabilitation and education programs, has zealously permitted a new "Christian" license plate design. Of course, a license plate with stained glass art and a cross may not make it past the ACLU and may go the way of the "Choose Life" license plate design. That one resulted in a lawsuit where $150,000 of public money was forked over to Planned Parenthood for legal fees.

Can it be that SC legislators are so cynical as to believe that voting for anything with a religious theme AND defending it in court is a winning proposition no matter its actual cost? Can it be that they really don't believe at all in a God who can do math and Who means what He says?

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